dard. The prince regent instituted a commission for the same purpose in 1819, which presented reports in 1819, 1820, and 1821, and procured the Act 5 Geo. IV. c. 74 (June 17, 1824), for establishing uniformity of weights and measures. This was amended by 4 & 5 Will. IV. c. 49 (Aug. 13, 1834), and both Acts were repealed by 5 & 6 Will. IV. c. 63 (Sept. 9, 1835). Troy weight is ordered to be used in sales of bullion and precious stones by 16 & 17 Vict. c. 29 (June 14, 1853). Further provisions for legalizing and preserving the standard were made by 18 & 19 Vict. c. 72, 22 & 23 Vict. c. 56, 23 & 24 Vict. c. 146, and 24 & 25 Vict. cc. 75 and 79.

Will. The legal declaration of a man's intentions, which he wills to be performed after his death. The law with respect to wills is now regulated by 7 Will. IV. and 1 Vict. c. 26, commonly called the Wills Act.

The first section enacts, that the word "will" shall extend to a testament, and to a codicil, and to any other testamentary disposition, and also defines the meaning of the words "real estate" and "personal estate as used in the Act.

The second section repeals various previous Acts relating to wills.

The third section enacts that it shall be lawful for every person to bequeath, or dispose of real estate, and all personal estate which he shall be entitled to at the time of his death, and the power given shall extend to all real estate of the nature of customary freehold or tenant-right, or customary or copyhold; also all estates pur autre vie, all contingent interests, and all rights of entry and property acquired even subsequently to the execution of his will.

The fourth section provides for the payment of the stamp duties, fines and fees.

The fifth section enacts, that when any real estate of the nature of customary freehold or tenant-right, or customary or copyhold, shall be disposed of by will, so much of the will as shall contain such disposition shall be entered on the court-rolls of the manor or reputed manor of which it is holden; and the lord shall be entitled to the same fine, heriot, dues, duties and services from the devisee as would have been due from the customary heir, in case of the descent of the same real estate.

The sixth section enacts, that if no disposition by will be made of any estate pur autre vie of a freehold nature, the same shall be chargeable in the hands of the heir, if it come to him by reason of special occupancy, as assets by descent, as in the case of freehold land in fee-simple; and in the case of there being no special occupant of any estate pur autre vie,

whether freehold or customary freehold, tenant-right, customary or copy. hold, or of any other tenure, and whether a corporeal or incorporeal hereditament, it shall go to the executor or administrator of the party that had the estate thereof by virtue of the grant, and if it come to the executor or administrator either by reason of a special occupancy, or by virtue of this Act, it shall be assets in his hands, and shall be applied and distributed in the same manner as the personal estate of the testator or intestate.

The seventh section enacts, that no will made by any person under the age of twenty-one years shall be valid. At common law, idiots, lunatics, (except during lucid intervals), persons imbecile from disease, old age, or drunkenness, are incapable of making a will. One who is born deaf and dumb is presumed by the law to be an idiot; but such presumption may be rebutted; and if it can be proved that he understands the nature of the act, and desires to make a will, he may declare his will by signs and tokens. In the case of a blind testator, it is necessary to prove his knowledge and approval of the contents of the will he has executed. Wills made under mistake, or obtained by fraud, or by undue influence, are inoperative. Traitors and felons are incapable of making testaments from the time of their conviction, except as to trust property. A felo de se cannot make a will of personalty, although he may devise lands. Outlaws are incapable of making wills of personalty so long as the outlawry continues; but he who is outlawed in a personal action may devise his lands. An alien friend may make a will of personalty, but not of realty. An alien enemy, unless he has obtained the Sovereign's license to reside in this country, is incapable of making any will.

By section eight no will made by any married woman shall be valid, except such a will as might have been made by a married woman before the passing of this Act.

A married woman, as a general rule, is incapable of devising lands and of making a testament of personalty without her husband's consent. The husband may, however, by waiving his right to be his wife's administrator, empower her to make a will of personalty, but he may revoke his assent at any time before probate, and it is therefore necessary to prove his assent when probate is prayed. His assent only gives validity to the wife's will if he survives her.

To this general rule there are some exceptions. A married woman may, by special custom, devise her copyholds. She may also make a will in pursuance of an ante-nuptial agreement, or of a post-nuptial agreement for consideration, or by virtue of a power; and she may dispose of personalty actually given and settled, or agreed to be given and settled to her separate use, whether it be in possession or in reversion, and this rule extends to savings out of her personal property. In these cases probate can be obtained without the husband's assent, limited to the property of which the testatrix had power to dispose.

A wife who has obtained a protection order for her property, on the

ground of her husband's desertion, or who has been judicially separated from her husband, may dispose of her property in all respects as if she were a feme sole.

A married woman, who is an executrix, may make a will for the mere purpose of devolving her representative character on another, even without her husband's assent. The Act will probably not be held to dispense with the surrender to the use of the will of a married woman, as to lands which she may devise by special custom, inasmuch as a surrender implied an examination of the married woman by the steward, touching her free will and intention. If the husband have abjured the realm, or been banished, the wife's disability ceases both as to real and personal estate.

The fourteenth section enacts, that if any person, who shall attest the execution of a will, shall, at the time of the execution, or at any time afterwards, be incompetent to be admitted a witness to prove the execution thereof, such will shall not on that account be invalid.

The fifteenth section enacts, that if any person shall attest the execution of any will, to whom or to whose wife or husband any beneficial devise, legacy, estate, interest, gift, or appointment, of or affecting any real or personal estate (other than and except charges and directions for the payment of any debt or debts) shall be thereby given or made, such devise, &c., shall, so far only as concerns such person attesting the execution of such will, or the wife or husband of such person, or any person claiming under such person or wife or husband, be utterly null and void, and such person, so attesting, shall be admitted as a witness to prove the execution of such will, or to prove the validity or invalidity thereof, notwithstanding such devise, &c.

The sixteenth section enacts, that in case by any will any re 1 or personal estate shall be charged with any debt or debts, and any creditor, or the wife or husband of any creditor whose debt is so charged, shall attest the execution of such will, such creditor shall be admitted a witness to prove the execution of such will, or to prove the validity or invalidity thereof.

The seventeenth section enacts, that no person shall, on account of his being an executor of a will, be incompetent to be admitted a witness to prove the execution of such will, or a witness to prove the validity or invalidity thereof.

The ninth section enacts, "that no will shall be valid unless it shall be in writing and executed in manner hereinafter mentioned; (that is to say) it shall be signed at the foot or end thereof by the testator or by some other person in his presence and by his direction, and such signature shall be made or acknowledged by the testator in the presence of two or more witnesses present at the same time, and such witnesses shall attest and shall subscribe the will in the presence of the testator; but no form of attestation shall be necessary." Some doubts having arisen as to the meaning of the words "foot or end thereof" in this sect. the 15 Vict. c. 24, was passed which enacts, "that every will shall, so far only as

SC 16 H tim & Liesel og de crusan da Te kasi. but blow y'e lamelately ate the int or end of t

the trampada tras a link gaz kal lever between the sobby *wid the wind the spate of by the insane that the size tare to be paid to the words of the testinum úrse, ie of the Ce & cxitin & kal fuow or be afe e me the case of 32. ésta viti a vines a blank space intervening I di tve éra u uier or beaude the names or one of the names of the wirling witown, or by the tremstance that the spatte shall be aada yg a dia portia of the paper or papers containing the W..... WLETOOL LO CAame or paragraph or disposing part of the will shall be written above the signature, or by the circumstance that there shall

cent space of or at the bottom of the preceding sile or Jage or other portion of the same paper on which the will is written to contain the dignature; and the enumeration of the above circumstances shall not restrict the generality of the above enactment, but no signature under the said Act or this Act shall be operative to give effect to any disposition or direction which is underneath or which follows it, nor shall it give effect to any disposition or direction inserted after the signature shall be made."

The eleventh section excepts from the rule that all wills must be in writing, wills of personal estate made by soldiers in actual military service, or seamen at sea. This exception includes military and naval officers of

all ranks.

With regard to the revocation of wills, it is enacted by the eighteenth section "that every will made by a man or woman shall be revoked by his or her inarriage, except a will made in exercise of a power of appointment, when the real or personal estate thereby appointed would not, in default of such appointment, pass to his or her heir, customary heir, executor, or administrator, or the person entitled as his or her next of kin under the Statute of Distributions;" by the nineteenth section, “that no will shall be revoked by any presumption of an intention on the ground of an alteration in circumstances;" by the twentieth section, "that no will or codicil or any part thereof, shall be revoked otherwise than as aforesaid, or by another will or codicil executed in manner herein before required, or by some writing declaring an intention to revoke the same, and executed in the manner in which a will is hereinbefore required to be executed, or by the burning, tearing, or otherwise destroying the same by the testator, or by some person in his presence and by his direction, with the intention of revoking the same;" and by the twenty-third section, "that no conveyance or

other act made or done subsequently to the execution of a will of or relating to any real or personal estate therein comprised, except an act by which such will shall be revoked as aforesaid, shall prevent the operation of the will with respect to such estate or interest in such real or personal estate as the testator shall have power to dispose of by will at the time of his death."

The twenty-first section relates to obliterations, interlineations, and other alterations in wills, and enacts, "that no obliteration, interlineation, or other alteration made in any will after the execution thereof shall be valid or have any effect except so far as the words or effect of the will before such alteration shall not be apparent, unless such alteration shall be executed in like manner as herein before is required for the execution of the will, but the will with such alteration as part thereof shall be deemed to be duly executed if the signature of the testator and the subscription of the witnesses be made in the margin or on some other part of the will opposite or near to such alteration, or at the foot or end of or opposite to a memorandum referring to such alteration, and written at the end or some other part of the will."

The thirteenth section enacts, "that every will executed in manner herein before required shall be valid without any other publication thereof." With regard to the revival of a revoked will, the twenty-second section enacts, that no will, or codicil, or any part thereof, which shall be in any manner revoked shall be revived otherwise than by the re-execution thereof, or by a codicil executed in manner hereinbefore required, and showing an intention to revive the same; and when any will or codicil which shall be partly revoked, and afterwards wholly revoked, shall be revived, such revival shall not extend to so much thereof as shall have been revoked before the revocation of the whole thereof, unless an intention to the contrary shall be shown.'

As to the time from which a will speaks, the twenty-fourth section enacts, "that every will shall be construed, with reference to the real estate and personal estate comprised in it, to speak and take effect as if it had been executed immediately before the death of the testator, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will.”

As to the construction of a general devise of lands, the twenty-sixth section enacts, "that a devise of the land of the testator, or of the land of the testator in any place, or in the occupation of any person mentioned in his will, or otherwise described in a general manner, and any other general devise which would describe a customary, copyhold, or leasehold estate if the testator had no freehold estate which could be described by it, shall be construed to include the customary copyhold and leasehold estates of the testator, or his customary copyhold and leasehold estates, or any of them, to which such description shall extend, as the case may be, as well as freehold estates, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will."

As to the expressions necessary to execute a general power, the twentyseventh section enacts, that a devise or bequest in general terms, of real or